To Smile Through
by The DayDreaming
Summary: AU “The first time Cloud and Yuffie meet, he has a gun chambered with a single bullet, and she’s nailed to a cross, crucified. He's the one that pulls the nails out; he didn't think that it wouldn't be the last time he'd find her dead.” Clouffie oneshot


**To Smile Through**

By: The DayDreaming

Dedicated to: Filipina Shortaay! For her awesome Clouffie AMV which she dedicated to all Clouffie lovers. Thanks a bunch! I hope you like this, even if it isn't much.

Warnings: AU Uhm, complete crack? Possible out-of-character-ness? It's been a while since I wrote these guys, sorry if they're off. Oh, and the little diddy at the beginning belongs to me. Just so you guys know. It isn't a real song.

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters.

_This story has not been edited for mistakes. If there are any, please notify me and I'll try to rectify the situation whenever I get off my lazy ass._

* * *

"_There are a thousand and one things I'd like to you inform~_

"_How easy it is to walk by you_

"_How sweet it is to smile through_

"_The bleakest days of your December storm_

"'_Cause I know, in the end, you'll keep me warm~"_

"Must you sing?" Cloud asks, rolling his eyes as the girl behind him trills out the familiar notes. The song is the same, as always, when she feels in a good mood.

"And why not sing?" the girl responds, spritely form bouncing ahead of the blond, the natural hop-step carrying her forward and back in equal turns.

Cloud merely shakes his head, swatting her on the shoulder as he once again overtakes her, only for the girl to run around in front and stick her tongue out at him.

"Yuffie…" he tries, tired already, even though the sun overhead indicates that it's only eleven in the morning.

She merely smiles, more toothy-grin than anything else, and proceeds forward. Cloud follows in a resigned gait, and together they make their way towards the old, run-down park on the other side of town.

Somehow, this has become a weekly habit, the two of them trudging through the slush of mashed-up snow caking the sidewalks, in a bid for the Radiant Garden Park. It's almost mind-numbing in its repetitiveness and simplicity; Cloud allows his consciousness to wander as they meander along.

It is without a thought that he steps into the intersection forgoing looking to see if there are any cars headed his way.

Yuffie bolts forward immediately and shoves him back; her foot slips on the icy ground and plummets off the curb. She squawks as her arms move to pin-wheel, but it is too late, and already the car has slammed into her.

Cloud catches sight of the tattered yellow scarf fluttering in the wind as it comes undone, flying away to lie in the middle of the street.

Yuffie is gone.

He waits for the crossing-signal, heart thudding in his chest as the red truck moves on. When it turns green, he walks forward, grabs the scarf on the ground, and shuffles across.

* * *

"I really wish I didn't have to wake up to this ratty old church every time, y'know. It's so freakin' boring waiting for your ass!"

Cloud deigns not to reply, instead stepping forward and resting his hand on her arm, grasping the thin, limp limb and pulling Yuffie's supine body up until she can sit on her own. Her other arm hangs just as uselessly at her side, broken in several places and raw and bleeding. In fact, most of her is that way. Her ribcage is crushed and abdomen torn open, the back of her cranium obliterated into non-existence.

He tries not to stare at the white bone of her right patella, "…Sorry."

"Yeah, ya better be!" Yuffie is taking it as well as can be expected, dribbling reddened saliva down her ravaged, swollen lip while her tongue, nearly bitten through, checks for any missing teeth.

He swallows thickly and turns around, trying to focus on anything besides the girl sitting across the broken pew, piecing herself back together. It's always the most awkward of silences when he finds her like this.

"At least it wasn't the cross this time," she mutters distractedly; Cloud involuntarily eyes the tall, dilapidated wood of the church's giant cross slung onto the wall a couple yards away. He almost shudders at the memories, the images of when he's found her there, strung up like a doll.

The first time Cloud and Yuffie meet, he has a gun chambered with a single bullet, and she's nailed to that same cross, crucified.

He leaves her there, terrified out of his wits and unwilling to help the strange girl calling down to him candidly from her perch. Three days later, when he returns, her mottled corpse, dead from dehydration and infection and exposure, reanimates and they start their relationship anew.

He helps to pull the heavy, rusted nails from her palms and feet, watching in awe and horror as the dead, wrinkled skin of death sloughs off and reveals the plump, tender visage of a sixteen year old girl.

She has clung to him ever since.

He can just make out the tell-tale head of an over-sized nail, rusted onto the floor and hidden in a dark corner; Yuffie doesn't see them and so he doesn't bother with their removal.

As he hears her stand, Cloud turns and asks the question he always asks after these sorts of things happen, "Why do you do that?"

"Hmm? Do what?" Yuffie asks, knowing perfectly of what he speaks of, "Save your spiky ass? Totally own your soul with all of my awesome ninja prowess? Rock like it's 1999?"

Cloud sighs; he hates when she's like this, "The first one, Yuffie. I'm not playing your games today."

"Well, that's an awful rude way of acknowledging that you're a total ditz that can't go a day without needing the Great Ninja Yuffie around, nyuk nyuk nyuk!" Yuffie easily crosses her arms across her chest, signs of carnage and bloodshed vanished into nothing.

She walks forward, wagging her finger at Cloud all the way, like an exasperated school teacher speaking to a dense child, "We've gone over this already, Cloudie! I'm your guardian angel! It's my job to make sure you don't get in over your poor, empty head!"

He chooses not to remark on the fact that, more often than not, it's him bailing her out of bad situations.

"It's totally in my job description to do whatever it takes to 'ensure' your safety," she air quotes the word 'ensure,' the mocking tone in her voice revealing her thoughts on the matter.

"But, you always end up getting in the way," Cloud says, not noticing the subtle flinch of Yuffie's hand, "It kinda makes me think you need your own guardian, you klutz."

"Ahahaha! The Great Ninja needs no one!" Yuffie laughs off his statement, and tries not to let her thoughts linger too long on the truth so well hidden from Cloud.

A life for a life. There is no way around that equivalent exchange.

Where Cloud thinks that Yuffie merely has the worst luck in the world, the truth comes to the fact that, in order for Cloud to live, to survive his every accident and close encounter, a life must be given in return.

Yuffie has died for Cloud many times, and woken up alone in that old, abandoned church.

But, it's all routine now. Cloud has grown used to Yuffie's abrupt departures from the living world and consequential returns to the church. He's grown used to her hovering and living in his room and eating his dessert when he isn't looking.

Having one's very own guardian angel does that to some people.

Deciding that they've stayed there for too long, Yuffie releases a massive yawn and makes to walk to the front of the church, mouth opening to bid Cloud into coming, until a sweet call stops her mid-syllable.

"Aerith!" Cloud's eyes widen minutely, his very minimal version of surprise. He panics and starts motioning at the angel to hide, to get away, to _do_ something besides stand there and make fish-lips at him (Yuffie doesn't think her pouting looks like fish-lips at all).

"_Go_!!!" he hisses at her. With a huff, Yuffie crouches into a tense ball, back arching as feathery protrusions poke past her shoulder blades. The wings emerge, a dazzling, glossy black-green color. She uncurls herself, face grimacing at the quick summoning of her celestial appendages; at Cloud's growing face of panic, she sticks her tongue out before giving a light hop off the ground, hovering upward quickly and getting lost within the drafty rafters of the church.

All that's left behind is a trail of inky feathers, ones that she'll pick up later. The damn molting seems to be getting worse by the day.

It's always like this, Yuffie mourns, as she settles herself among the shady, rotting timbers. Absolutely no appreciation for her awesome presence! Didn't Cloud realize how difficult it was to tail him when she wasn't allowed to be there?

She sighs as the sweet presence of Aerith enters the church, a basket of flowers slung across her arm. Cloud seems to brighten at the mere sight of her; Yuffie's heart aches a little more at that thought. And really, it shouldn't. Isn't this what she wants, after all? Cloud to find love?

It is. It is! This is absolutely what she wants; for that pansy emo-boy Cloud to find the love of his life so she could finally go home!

She eyes Cloud's chest forlornly, gaze resting on the object bound around his neck. It was something only she could see, a thin chain clasped around a single, dark green feather, one of her very own pinions. It would be impossible to return home without it; she required all of her feathers in order to ascend to Sanctuary; that's why molting is such a bitch.

Her mission as a guardian is simple: protect Cloud Strife, a.k.a. emo-boy the wonder-blond.

Her mission as an angel, on the other hand, is an all-around bigger pain in the ass than it should be: allow love to bloom.

The diminutive white rosebud, clasped tightly shut along its delicate petals, is a sign of her failure. It rests comfortably in a mother-of-pearl walled box hidden in Cloud's room, silently laughing at her failed attempts to get Cloudie to not be such a tight-wad.

That rose is one of the mysteries of her assignment that she has yet to figure out. Allow love to bloom, right? She assumed that the cryptic bastards that composed the higher-ups of Sanctuary meant to make the rose bloom. And, obviously, that must mean that she needs to make Cloud fall in love with someone, right?

Her logic seems infallible, even with the minimal information those goody-goodies had given her before sending her down to the human world and nailing her to a cross (really now? Crucifixion? That was a bit harsh, and painful as all get out).

She supposed that maybe the crucifixion might have had something to do with her latest transgression against one of Sanctuary's numerous, and annoying, laws. Still, is it necessary to also make her molt? An angel losing its feathers is like an hourglass dropping grains of sand; the angel loses strength with each absent piece.

She is literally dieing.

"What a bitch," Yuffie mutters, and looks glumly on as Aerith's heavy boots trample all over the delicate plumage she's left behind.

Cloud and Aerith are talking now, and moving towards the double-doors of the church. It appears that Aerith is asking him out to coffee. Their conversation barely filters up to Yuffie's ears; with a sigh, she hovers upwards again, locating a hole in the roof large enough for her tiny frame to squeeze through. The wings won't fit, of course; she allows them to phase out of existence, relived to not run the risk of losing anymore feathers, even if it feels wonderful to stretch the large appendages every once in a while, something she is often unable to do.

Climbing onto the roof, Yuffie catches sight of the retreating forms of Aerith and Cloud, before quickly dropping down to the ground and casually walking at a sedate pace (read: stalking) behind the pair.

"Being a guardian angel sucks," she mutters to herself.

Maybe this wouldn't have happened, she thinks, if I hadn't decided it would be funny to steal one of the most prized jewels of the Sanctuary for myself. Ah, well. No use crying over spilled milk.

She just can't understand why the rose won't bloom and allow her to go home. Isn't it obvious that Cloud is head-over-heels for Aerith? Love is _clearly_ 'a-bloomin'' here! Not to mention, she's doing a bang-up job of protecting Cloud's sorry ass (read: dieing about a hundred times within the two months that they've known each other over his stupid mistakes).

Sometimes, Yuffie wishes that she could have been one of those sweet souls that get to stay within the spiritual realm and not have to do a goddamn thing.

This is too much work, she thinks, as she sees Aerith try to hold Cloud's hand while the blond idiotically pulls away, thinking that the poor flower girl just can't walk in a straight line and keeps bumping into him.

She tries to ignore the green pit of jealousy rooted in a tiny corner of her heart, blames the air of loneliness about her on the depressing weather.

A life for a life. Hers for his.

Being a guardian angel is such a bitch.

* * *

Wha? What is this? I don't know…

Anyways, lots of things in this one-shot thing. I don't really feel like explaining all of them. Basically, Yuffie is Cloud's guardian angel. She has to be a guardian angel because she committed a great crime, and therefore must go down to earth and try to change herself. Unfortunately, as part of her punishment, she's losing her feathers. As a guardian, she's chained to Cloud through that invisible pinion feather on his chest. The white rose is half a reference to Yuffie's FFVII title of White Rose of Wutai. The other half goes along with flower meanings. White rosebud equals girlhood, basically immaturity on Yuffie's part. She guessed right on the fact that she's supposed to make the bud bloom into a rose. White roses used to have the predominant meaning of true love, though that's morphed into innocence and new bonds of love over time, a symbol of heavenliness and spiritual respect. So gather from that what you will. Notice how the always-cryptic higher-ups have left 'Allow for love to bloom' rather open…Imagine that Yuffie isn't quite directing her attention onto the right people.

Wrote this when I was extremely tired, but I'm glad I got it done, since I'm not going to have any time very soon. This is a gift to Filipina Shortaay for her wonderful AMV dedicated to all the Clouffie lovers of the world! Thanks a bunch, sweetheart, and I hope you do continue on with your AMVs! Please accept this as a very small token of my appreciation of your contribution to the Clouffolution. Her AMV is here, just remove the spaces: youtube . com/ watch? v=jIpfZOQHbAE

Please review and tell me how you liked this or hated this; I know it's not the best, but I'm really rusty from being away for so long. The DayDreaming out!


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